U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power and her boss in the State Dept. are just not very smart. Powerful and tenacious, yes. Intelligent – really not.Photo Credit: Men's Vogue

Posted by Samantha Power on Twitter:

Samantha Power‏@AmbassadorPower

Daniel Pearl’s story is reminder that individual accountability & reconciliation are required to break cycles of violence. @DanielPearlFNDN

Last night, the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, the Daniel Pearl Foundation and the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA proudly presented the 2013-14 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture, featuring Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, with an introduction by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Dignified, right? Black tie? Check. Very clear right and wrong – check. So what happened?

In one instant, in a flash of unintended honesty, Ambassador Powers showed she learned absolutely nothing, but I mean zero, zilch, nada, from the Daniel Pearl tragedy. She showed that she is as unqualified to give the Daniel Pearl annual speech as, I don’t know, Noam Chomsky, maybe.

Daniel Pearl is in the category of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria kind of historical figures, whose life’s achievements tend to be blurred over the years, until, eventually, they are remembered only for their final few moments. The Archduke will be forever remembered as the man whose assassination by a radical in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, ushered in the First World War.

Daniel Pearl was the Wall Street Journal brave hearted reporter who was kidnapped and executed by a jihadist group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. Pearl was decapitated on video after 9 days of captivity. He will be forever honored for his unabashed statement, on camera: “My name is Daniel Pearl, I am an American Jew.”

Millions of us have been deeply disturbed by the Daniel Pearl murder. It touched so many previously universal assumptions and turned them upside down: the assumption that no one wants to hurt the press, since everybody wants good press for themselves – wrong; the assumption that when criminals are showing their victims on video it is to extract some kind of ransom, and so as long as the video is running, the victim is safe – wrong; and, of course, the ultimate assumption, that every enemy has a cause over which we can eventually bargain with them, until we meet half way – really, really wrong.

The fact is, millions of us have walked away from the Daniel Pearl execution with the universal conviction that the only way to go now must be to annihilate these bastards, until they’re all dead and gone. It was a Churchill in Dunkirk moment, following which the old bulldog gave his heroic “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech. Just as there was no possibility to negotiate with Hitler in 1940, there’s no negotiating with the jihadists. They are enemies of humanity and must all be exterminated – that’s what the entire civilized world took from the Pearl beheading.

Well, not the entire civilized world, as it turns out.

I don’t have a copy of what U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power told the good folks at UCLA last night. She probably touched all the bases. But I do have her tweets in front of me, and they’re stunning.

The first one is totally on the money, no problem there:

We must be vigilant in protecting the rights of the press. 2013 = 2nd highest # of journalist deaths and arrests all-time. @DanielPearlFNDN

To those of you who don’t speak fluent Tweet, Powers is citing herself at the foundation speech, giving her followers the gist of her message. And, of course, it’s unacceptable that close allies of the United States, such as Turkey and the Palestinian Authority, have been detaining journalists, photographers and even people making unflattering Facebook entries.

She was called on it, of course, by a few of her Tweeter followers:

RDPinRVA: That’s pretty rich coming from an appointee of an administration committed to limiting the press’ freedom.

Casey Kim: You’re part of the same administration who just suggested brining in the FCC to monitor newsrooms.

RDPinRVA: Pearl was killed by terrorists who deserve to burn in hell, has nothing to do with freedom of the press or accountability.

But then the ambassador tweeted the money tweet, the gastrointestinal blast that cannot be retrieved, and all hell broke loose:

OMG. She actually said that. She proposed an equation in which two sides, the jihadists and Daniel Pearl were each engaged in violence against each other, and look what happened. I’m not going to add much to this, I’m just going to copy and paste some of the responses:

Zathras: To what “cycle of violence” are you referring? The man had his throat cut for being a Jew.

AG: Can you elaborate? What should Pearl have been accountable for? Should he have reconciled with Al Qaeda?

Tom O’C: What the hell is wrong with you?

Rick Wilson: How, precisely, does one reconcile with medieval savages who traffic in videotaped decapitation porn?

SooperMex: Hopefully Ambassador Power is just stringing together liberal claptrap wordsalad, because if she means anything intentional, she’s insane…

John Hinderaker: What on Earth are you talking about? That made no sense at all.

Tom O’C: I’m thinking a bad coke binge.

Razor: What specific steps would you have taken to avoid meeting his fate once captured? Or are you blaming the victim for that?

FactsAreThat: Here comes another idiot.

And that last one, dear reader, is probably the most astute analysis of this woman and her boss in the State Dept. They’re just not very smart. Powerful and tenacious, yes. Intelligent – really not. I believe the following video clip says it all: Chicollini here may look like an idiot and sound like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you, he really is an idiot.

About the Author:Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and
two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.

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33 Responses to “Amb. Power Puts Huge Foot in Mouth with ‘Cycle of Violence’ Comment”

Brian, a cycle is a repeated series of events, not to be confused with reciprocal – as you are implying. i dont think her comments were at all inappropriate, referring to the ongoing cycle of violence.

It reminds one eerily of John Kerry's gaffe, following the Boston Marathon bombing. Mr. Kerry, in his desire to find common ground and expressed empathy with suffering of Turks has managed to put an entire shoe-store into his mouth. He essentially likened the suffering of the Turkish families whose relatives died trying to lynch Israeli soldiers on the Mavi Marmara with the suffering of families whose relatives were killed or maimed by Jihadis at the Boston Marathon.

The Secretary of State's precise words were: “We have just been through the week of Boston, and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence, when something that happens when you lose people that are near and dear to you. It affects the community; it affects the country. But going forward, you know, we have to find the best way to bring people together and undo these tensions and undo these stereotypes and try to make peace.”

This is symptomatic of the Western world's mindset, that just can't assimilate the mindset of its enemy.

Dov Blair Epstein, you are always right, except this time. cycle does not in any way imply reciprocity. although the term is often used in cases of domestic violence where there is an ongoing pattern of violence (of a single aggressor and a single victim) , it can apply to any form of repeated violence. this piece is nothing more than an overly zealous writer in search of a controversy.

You know, everyone really needs to read this excellent article. In America we all know the WH administration are either the most devious satanic monsters since the Nazi party of Germany during WWII, or they are all incredibly stupid to the degree they are dumber than a sac of rocks. It is like having to be forced to watch the stupid movie Dumb and Dumber. I shall not forget the insensitivity of the DEMON CRATS nor shall can I erase the crying and pleading of Daniel Pearl, like a lamb led to slaughter as they sawed off his head at the neck. Powers and John Kerry need to be strapped into a chair and forced to watch that scene in HD every day for the rest of their term in office.

As an American, I am so sorry for the ignorant, ill informed and clueless individuals Pres. Obama has selected to represent America. Daniel Pearl made a profound statement when he said "I am an American Jew". That is the face of courage. Samantha Power if but another "pay back" for her donations to a very solipsistic president.

How can Samantha Power put her foot in her mouth when it's already there and has been for years. She has made so many outrageous staements that he foot must be partially digested in her mout.
For example she once said that the America should invade Israel.
Ahe only reason she was appointed by hussein obama was because
she is no friend of Israel.

Andy Levy-Stevenson: How is that more to the story? This wasn't a case of selective quotes at all, whatever Gil Reich might want to claim in an effort to whitewash yet another embarrassment coming out of this administration.

My dear jewish friends. If you want allies that will stand alongside you, allies that "have your back", allies that would die in a war to save Israel…then look no further than American conservative Christians. It has always mystified me why most American Jews vote Democrat. Don't you realize that a Democrat's idea of middle-east foreign policy is to pressure Israel into making more concessions? Don't you realize that people like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama don't like Israel, and would sell you out in a New York minute? When are you going to start voting for candidates that support what you believe in? Samantha Power is just another in a long line of radical liberals who pretend to lie Israel to get votes, but who in reality, hate Israel and all that it represents. Powers' "Freudian Slip" reveals what we already suspected.

Also, PJ O'Rourke observed that the "cycle of violence" is only perpetuated if the violence that is engaged in is disorganized and amateurish. If the violence engaged in is done in an organized and professional way, the cycle is stopped, because all of the folks on one side are DEAD.

If Israel is destroyed another Holocaust will have happened. Six million Jews perished while the world abandoned us. Among the murdered was my family. American Jews speak out before it is too late.
. Israel is in trouble and we listen to Obama and others who have interests OTHER than saving ISRAEL from destruction. . Let us stop being politically correct and protect . Israel.. RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG

AS A jEW, SIR, MR WILLIAM HEAD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR MOST WELCOM COMMENT.
WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN, IS WHAT i HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS, BEFORE oBAMA WAS ELECTED TO THE WHITE HOUSE.
AFTER HE MADE HIS SPEECH TO AIPAC, THAT ISRAEL MUST NEVER BE DIVIDED, THEN HE SAID "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT", I IMMEDIATELY WROTE TO MY MANY JEWISH FRIENDS IN USA TO VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN, AS OBAMA IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
WHEN HE STOOD FOR A SECOND TERM, I ONCE AGAIN "BEGGED" MY US FRIENDDS. "GET HIM OUT OF THE WH. HE WILL TRY TO DESTROY ISRAEL" SOME TOLD E TO ME TO MIND MY OWN BUSINESSS.
I SAW THRU THAT MAN FROM DAY ONE. I HOPE THAT ISRAEL IS STRIONG ENOUGH TO HOLD OUT UNTIL OBAMA AND KERRY ARE OUT OF THE PICTURE.

Andy Levy-Stevenson I agree with Gil's point – It is indeed important- but I also stand by my comparison of Powers' unfortunate communication with Kerry's gaffe – and my comment on on how revelations of the West's misplaced empathy are repeatedly showcased (or is that shoe-cased?) in diplomatic pronouncements.

Did you expect anything different? No one in the administration will say anything negative about Islamists. The "violence of a defenseless Jew who is held captive" is used to explain jihadist murder of him. Remember, Our current leadership also supports the Muslim Brotherhood. The violence of the Jew is nonsense and is closer to the kind of distortion a Jihadist would say.

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